Page 34 - Intro to Space Sciences Spacecraft Applications

Introduction and History 21

Figure 1-1 5. Navstar/GPS. Though designed to provide precision navigation
for military forces worldwide, commercial use of the Global Positioning
Satellite system has become widespread.

tems and services. Nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy,
India, Korea, and others have a presence in space with specific satellites
or technologies geared to space applications. Space has become a world-
wide area of interest and commerce with many nations joining together to
pursue mutual interests. The European Space Agency (ESA), a consor-
tium of space organizations from 13 countries, is one such example. A
listing of many U.S. and foreign satellites is given in Appendix B.

The Future

While the Space Shuttle will continue to be used to deliver people and
material to outer space, future plans call for a more robust mix of launch
vehicles which may include an increasingly wider range of expendable
launch vehicles (ELVs) or more reusable concepts such as follow-on
space shuttle designs, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicles, or a Nation-
al Aerospace Plane (NASP) capable of reaching space using more con-
ventional take-off and landing operations. The Russians have tested a
shuttle-like craft, Burun (“Snowstorm”), although the likelihood of its fur-
ther development and use is doubtful. The Russians also have developed
a heavy-lift booster of the Saturn V class, Energiu, which could be used
to launch complete space station modules into low-earth orbit. The Euro-